Rick Perry vs. Barack Obama
The campaign has begun

i'm not convinced that a lot of them actually believe their blather... call me cynical, but politicians do (and say) whatever it takes to get and stay elected... if there are exceptions, i don't know who they are

Two weeks after Lehman’s bankruptcy in September 2008, Morgan Stanley countered concerns that it might be next to go by announcing it had “strong capital and liquidity positions.” The statement, in a Sept. 29, 2008, press release about a $9 billion investment from Tokyo-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., said nothing about Morgan Stanley’s Fed loans.

That was the same day as the firm’s $107.3 billion peak in borrowing from the central bank, which was the source of almost all of Morgan Stanley’s available cash, according to the lending data and documents released more than two years later by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The amount was almost three times the company’s total profits over the past decade, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Mark Lake, a spokesman for New York-based Morgan Stanley, said the crisis caused the industry to “fundamentally re-evaluate” the way it manages its cash.

The usual lessons apply: If you are going to be irresponsible with money, don't do it in a small way -- you will lose your home; instead do it in a massive way -- you will lose nothing.

One of my brothers, who is at Morgan Stanley, told me this summer that he has qualms about that whole situation (although he doesn't classify it as negatively as I do). And, despite his qualms, he's not planning to leave the company.

The growth of wisdom may be gauged exactly by the diminution of ill temper. — Friedrich Nietzsche
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists — that is why they invented hell. — Bertrand Russell

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As for tv, screw it. You aren't missing anything. -- Ken Berg
I have come to realise it is futile to expect or hope a regular club game will be run in accordance with the laws. -- Jillybean

U mad, bro? Anyway, this is off-topic so I'll just summarize with this and give you the last word if you want it.

"Iraq, despite the brutality of Saddam Hussein, was a prosperous country with a highly educated middle class before the war. Its infrastructure was modern and efficient. Iraqis enjoyed a high standard of living. The country did not lack modern conveniences. Things worked. And being in Iraq, as I often was when I covered the Middle East for The New York Times, while unnerving because of state repression, was never a hardship. Since our occupation the country has tumbled into dysfunction. Factories, hospitals, power plants, phone service, sewage systems and electrical grids do not work. Iraqis, if they are lucky, get three hours of electricity a day. Try this in 110-degree heat. Poverty is endemic. More than a million Iraqi civilians have been killed. Nearly 5 million have been displaced from their homes or are refugees. The Mercer Quality of Living survey last year ranked Baghdad last among cities-the least livable on the planet. Iraq, which once controlled its own oil, has been forced to turn its oil concessions over to foreign corporations. That is what we have bequeathed to Iraq-violence, misery and theft."

Gosh Jon, I can't imagine why that Saddam Hussain follow decided on an unprevoked invasion of Iran in 1980. My Iraqi friends at the time weren't talking, for sure. Perhaps it had something to do with that German or that Italian guy and how that 1870's European experience was later interpreted by a miserable Christian Syrian. Old Saddam ended up messing with the day to day life of the rich countries in the world. The misery he brought down on his own people might have been less in perfect world if the good old USA had behaved differently, but you know about port-mortems.

absolutely... i read somewhere that from 1967 on there was a steady downward curve in act and sat scores...

There are all kinds of explanations for this, one of which is that "in the old days" only top high school students expected to go to college and therefore took those tests, whereas today all except the bottom high school students do, so we're not comparing apples to apples.

There are all kinds of explanations for this, one of which is that "in the old days" only top high school students expected to go to college and therefore took those tests, whereas today all except the bottom high school students do, so we're not comparing apples to apples.

In other words, supply-side testing. No wonder data are ignored.

This post sponsored by: All County Building Supply & Maintenance, Felo, NY.Without truth it is impossible to speak truth to power, so there is only power.

When I was reading enlightenment philosophy, they stressed the importance of universal education in a democracy, as a better educated population could be trusted to make better decisions. At some point the idea entered our culture that "Everyone has a right to their opinion". A liberal education (in the old sense) stands opposed to this, because the most important thing it teaches you is that some people really do think much better than others. A well educated man does not form an opinion by going to the source material and assuming he will be able to figure it all out, he finds the opinions of experts and when the experts disagree he finds enough experts to form a consensus, and failing that he muddles through as best he can.

The problem is, it has become ok for politicians, as the mouthpieces for democracy, to put forward their own ideas on an equal footing. As if their opinion is equal. It would be much better, and more honest, for politicians to admit that they do not actually understand what is going on, and so they are seeking expert advice/consensus. In fact the opposite is happening, politicians are advancing their own ideas and assuming that because people voted for them, they must be right. A dangerous state of affairs.